


1000 Moments

by Yubbie



Series: Writing Prompts [1]
Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: 1000 Paper Cranes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:04:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8997538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yubbie/pseuds/Yubbie
Summary: Legend has it that if you make a thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant you a wish. A 1000 paper crane word prompt with a touch of The Sun.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I see Youta as a creative older brother that likes putting a positive spin on anything when he can. This idea spurred in the early morning and I actually completed it! There’s also a headcanon to Gao’s past I placed in there too.
> 
> Thanks to my friends for helping me out on some small details!
> 
> Enjoy!

It began with boredom. The lack of anything new and interesting to do while visiting his brother. Blank papers and drawings left scattered on the tabletop with his crayons.

“Hmm, then how about we make a paper crane.” Youta suggested after another session of the small child’s complaint.

“Paper crane?”

“Yeah. I learned it from grandma, but you gotta be quiet, okay?”

Gao nodded eagerly, sitting forward attentively. Enraptured by the folding process, his golden eyes sparkled and widen in awe at the end result. A single white folded paper resembling that of a bird sat in front of him.

“So cool…! Nii-chan, you gotta teach me it too! Teach me!”

“Alright, alright.” The older sibling laughed, ruffling the younger’s head, “Come here. I’ll show it to you step by step okay?”

It took several tries before there’s finally a shoddy crane standing in his palms and a proud wide grin on his face.

It was the first of the cranes Gao would make.

* * *

He felt regret and lost but, out of those two, he felt isolated the most.

Punished from competing for a while, he was instructed to return to the basics. He accepted it quietly. There was nothing to argue about after all: It was his fault.

In private, with just the two of them, away from the formalities of teacher and student, his mom spoke with him.

“What’s really going on sweetie?”

Lips pursed, he looks at her in confusion. He thought she understood already– why he end up breaking the kid’s wrist.

“What do you mean?”

He wanted to win. He wanted to win no matter what that he used a move he shouldn’t have in the tournament.

“Why are you determined to win?”

His expression fell. A moment of thought before his lips parted to answer, “It felt good to win." 

But, no, that wasn’t all there was to it. Darken eyes dropped to the floor.

"Gao-chan.”

Callous hands cupped his face gently, tilting his head up to her again. The distraught and vulnerable expression twisted the same pain in her heart. Her thumb brushed against his cheek, smile soft and understanding.

“It’s okay Gao-chan.” She pulled him close, a kiss to his forehead while a hand carded through his hair. “He won’t be mad at you.”

His reaction came immediately like a loose pebble that gave way for the boulder to roll down. He latched onto her tightly with silent tears and soft whimpers. Her tone hush and patient, assuring him throughout it.

It was later, while laying restlessly in bed, that he’s reminded of the folded cranes. Without another thought, he adds on to the ten since Youta’s passing.

* * *

“Gao-onii-chan, what are you doing?”

“Hm?” He looks up to his little sister, who was looking pointedly at the paper in his hands. “Oh, I’m making paper cranes.”

“Paper cranes?”

“Yeah! I learned from Youta.” Her eyes widen at the mention and an idea comes to him. With a smile, he set the partly done crane and pulled out two sheets of paper. “Do you want to learn? Here, I’ll show you! You start off with doing this–”

* * *

It becomes a habit, folding paper cranes. When he’s down, when he’s happy, when he’s bored. Whenever something good or bad happened, he created another one of the little guys. His drawer for them starts getting crowded and his desk starts being covered with them. They eventually ended up in various surfaces in his room.

He’s questioning what to do about it when his grandma sat down with him one day with threads and a needle.

That night, he admired the two strung up cranes; two hundred in various shape and sizes with some still remaining in his drawer.

* * *

“–And then he threw one from all the way across like whoosh!” Gao shot his arm out to demonstrate the speed, his eyes glowed with excitement from recalling the moment. “It nailed the other guy right on the shoulder and got us the win! Noboru was really cool.”

“That’s great, Gao-chan! I’m glad you made a friend today.”

“Oh, mom, can we get some origami papers tomorrow?!”

“Hm? But don’t you still got some from last time?”

“I don’t have any yellow ones left and I really need one for this! Please?”

“… Alright, but after practice. No skipping or being late! Otherwise, you’ll have to wait til your next allowance, mister.”

* * *

The collection grows. The custom designed cranes increased when he met Drum: fire, stars, bananas, snowflakes, etc. Each one a reflection of the friends he made and all joined the stripped, wrench, and cat birds.

“Hey Gao, why do you keep making these things?” Drum brought up one day, not too long after they finally settled their differences, “And why do you have them hanging in here?”

“They’re paper cranes and I can’t have them laying around, so I hung them.”

“But why? Just throw them out if they’re in the way.”

Gao huffed, slightly miffed at the suggestion. “No way! I can’t just throw them away.”

“Why not?” The dragon turns away from the hung cranes to the boy who was currently in the middle of making one. “What’s so special about these paper things?”

Gao couldn’t stop the smile from coming forth at the question and lifted up the freshly folded crane to the artificial light.

“Have you ever heard the legend?”

* * *

“Legend has it,” Youta begun as he started demonstrating, “that if you make a thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant you a wish. Some believe it can grant you eternal luck or youth, or heal an injury or sickness.”

“Then, if we make a thousand of them, will you get better Nii-chan?”

“Hmm, maybe,” He holds out the second crane, placing it in the small hands, “but there’s more to it than just granting wishes, Gao.”

* * *

Drum blinks, following Gao as he slipped another bird on one of the ever growing strings of cranes. He grew impatient when the silence continued on.

“So? What’s the ‘more to it’ part?!”

The boy turned to Drum with a finger lifted in front of his lips and an eye shut, “That’s a secret!”

An ensuing one-sided argument began between the two again; five hundred and eighty-four cranes swayed in the still air.

* * *

They slowed down when events picked up in his life. When he did have time, he gave into sleep or focused on other priorities. There were moments when he thought it would be the perfect time to fold some, but didn’t have the material on hand nor a place to safely store them until they returned home.

He marks them though, making note of each moment that he would have created a crane for, and folded them when he could.

The total, he recalled spontaneously once while making one such note, would be at seven hundred and twenty-three.

* * *

The stars were bright above them; a sense of ease settled within him after their talk and an urge to catch up on his folding rose. He turns over onto his hands and knees and look down at the boy next to him.

“Tasuku-senpai, do you want to fold some cranes with me before you leave?”

“Fold some cranes? … What are you folding them for?”

The smile is there again and he doesn’t answer. Instead, he took that response as a sign to slip back down to his window.

When Tasuku finally leaves, there’s eight hundred and forty-two.

* * *

“Cranes symbolize good fortune and long life, but they also represent peace. Whenever you’re having a hard time and nothing seems to be working, make a crane. Put all your bad energy into it and let it take that bad and turn it into something good.”

“But what if I don’t feel bad and make one? Will it turn it into something bad?”

“No, instead, they’ll keep those memories and add them to the good.”

* * *

The sunset was dazzling. The city’s skyline and the water that reflected the sun’s light. He wondered, for a moment, if the cranes had any hand in this, before he’s interrupted by Tasuku and Kiri.

* * *

The days returned to peaceful ones. He spent them between his friends and catching up on the rest of the cranes he wasn’t able to make before. Arriving earlier than the other at the planned meeting spot, he took out a sheet of paper and resumed the folding.

“How much do you have left?”

Startled by voice, he fumbled with the paper. “Tasuku-senpai! You scared me. Give me a little warning next time.”

“Ehehe, sorry Gao-kun. I’ll remember that next time. So?”

At Tasuku’s prompt, Gao quickly finished the one he had dropped then stood up and took his hand. He gazed up at him with a vibrant smile as he placed the sun patterned crane in his palm.

“This is the last one– and it’s for you!”


End file.
